Newsletter

Posted November 26, 2011 12:09 am

Letter: Teacher unions should buy classroom supplies

Editor: Your Nov. 15 headline article “Teachers paying for supplies” showed what great commitment our teachers have for our kids by spending money out of their own pockets to complete their classrooms. I have great admiration and respect for them and the parents, non profits, business partners and others that contribute unselfishly to our schools. What peaked my attention was the lack of support from the teachers’ unions at the classroom level.

Where does all the union money go? The Record’s Oct. 11, 2011 article, “Supporters in special Senate race revealed” makes that clear. The political action committee that supported the September election of Audrey Gibson (whose state Senate District 1 includes much of St Johns County) received $50,000 from Florida’s largest teacher’s union, the Florida Education Association, and another $25,000 from the AFL-CIO. Gibson’s opponent, Terry Fields, supported school choice; legislation opposed by unions.

That $75,000 could have gone a long way to help teachers fill their classrooms with the supplies needed to educate our kids. Instead the unions chose to buy a political seat in Tallahassee. It’s clear to me that the priority of the teachers’ union is to enhance political power for its organization, not to improve the day-to-day education of our kids.

If Gibson and the teachers’ unions are really concerned about education at the classroom level, I challenge her and the unions to contribute money and supplies back to the classrooms in her district equal to the amount the unions spent to buy her seat at the Legislature — $75,000.